Twenty years ago on Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021, the world changed forever, when the World Trade Centers were struck by airplanes. Local citizens remember that day and how if affected them:
Lamb County Judge Mike DeLoach said that he was on Duty with Littlefield EMS and was at the EMS Station when Monica called.
“She told us to turn the TV on (she never allowed that during working hours),” he explained. I remember Albert Rangel and I both saying ‘We live in a different world after today’. Two things are burned into my mind; the people jumping from the towers, and the First Responders Running into the fire and destruction. I will never forget those two things.
He added, “I believe that people my age and older felt a sense of security before 9/11 that we don’t feel today. That day renewed my faith in my County and our citizens. We came together after that, regardless of who we are, where we are from, or what we believed. I wish we could do that today, sit down around a kitchen table and celebrate what we agree on not just what we disagree on.”
Director of Lamb County CSCD Ben Diaz said he was a 19 year old Marine stationed at Marine Corps Air Base Yuma, Arizona (MCAS Yuma) when the attacks happened.
“I wasn’t even in the Marine Corps a full year when 9/11 happened,” he recalled. “I remember finishing PT that Tuesday morning and going to the chow hall to grab some breakfast. On the televisions the news was reporting that a plane had flown into one of the World Trade Centers. By the time I had gotten to my unit, the second plain had already flown into the other building. We knew our country was under attack, but we didn’t know much else. Our commanding officers immediately sent us to the armory to retrieve our weapons, and each one of us took up a post surrounding the base.”
He added, “It was a scary time, especially because nobody knew what was happening. I just kept wondering about my family and didn’t want them to worry about me and wishing I could contact them to let them know if was safe. After a couple of days, the worry turned into anger, and everyone I knew in the Marine Corps was ready to do something about the attacks. I remember our CO saying once we figured out who was responsible it wouldn’t take long before we kicked some ass.”
Diaz talked about how that day changed his life, saying, “I ended up being deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). I like to think my generation, who had known nothing but peace up to that point, grew up because of 9/11 – I know I did. We take so many things for granted. Nowadays we allow politics to divide us, and we argue amongst ourselves over wedge issues. 9/11 taught me that we Americans agree on far more things than could ever divide us. I’ll never forget how united we were as a country after 9/11”!
Assistant County and District Attorney Rickie Redman said that she was in her senior year of high school in Killeen, Texas.
“I remember exactly where I was standing the moment I first heard about the attacks,” she explained. “I had just gotten to school and was visiting with my friends in the commons area of our high school, and someone ran over to tell us that they’d seen the news in a teacher’s classroom that morning. We all went to our home room classrooms, and just about every single class had their TV’s turned on to the national news stations.”
She added, “I remember that the mood was so somber and sad— doubly so because I grew up an Army brat and went to school with so many other kids whose parents were still active duty or Guard members. There was an unspoken understanding amongst all of us, that our lives were going to change drastically because of the horrific events of that morning.”
She talked about about how that day changed her life, saying, “It made me much more thoughtful about the blessings we enjoy, living in a country and a state where that kind of appalling attack is an anomaly and not a regular occurrence. I am also more cognizant about the fact that we do not live in a bubble—I think I’d always taken for granted that international terrorist organizations did not attack our country on our own soil.”
She added, “I think I’m more aware now, especially twenty years later, that we are vulnerable; there is a lot that goes on in terms of our safety and security as a nation, behind the scenes that we are unaware of. I am so thankful to live in our great Country”!
Lamb County District Attorney Scott Say said that he was in his office early that morning preparing for trial, when Mark Yarbrough yelled from his office to turn on the TV. office early that morning preparing for trial, when Mark Yarbrough yelled from his office to turn on the TV.
“We watched in disbelief as they replayed the first plane hitting the tower and live as the second hit,” he said. “I was sick to my stomach and prayed for the people trying to escape the carnage. I was also mad as Hell – Still am. I will never forget those images for as long as I live.”
Dezi Vargas said that he was in Dallas, Texas, on the day of the attacks.
“I drove to Raton, N.M. and back (10 hrs) to pick up my roommate at the time who couldn’t get back to Dallas because of the FAA airspace halt,” he said.
Vargas talked about how that day changed his life, saying, “I worked for the Southwest Airlines at the time. The impact to the commercial aviation industry was transformational. Our way of operation with the new security measures changed the airport experience forever. The sense of unity and American pride in the days following 9/11 reminds me of the endless possibilities our great country can achieve when we work together as one.”
Shawna Hastings said that she was at home, getting ready to go to work at Gebos when the attacks began. “I had sat down to put on my boots, and the Today Show was on, and I just happened to be watching as the second plane crashed into the second tower,” she recalled. “I was in shock at what I had just witnessed, and I remember Al Roker and Matt Lauer both being speechless. It was just total silence on the air. I hurried up and rushed to work, where we all spent the day watching the little TV someone had brought in.”
She added, “I remember the eerie silence the whole day. None of us said much of anything all day. Sometime mid afternoon, Mike, my boss at the time came to me and told me to go home and be with my boys. The next day, Sam and I had class at mortuary school, and there was talk of canceling, but our professor decided we needed to continue on as planned, we had just started school the day before. During class the next day, we didn’t do any studies, we sat as a class and watched the ongoing news and discussed the impact of what had happened. Our professor served on the national DMORT team, and he was getting prepared to be dispatched to go help with the remaining recovery and ID.”
She continued, “It was all very surreal. One thing I learned from the horrific things that happened that day, was the worst event in American History I had ever experienced brought out the best in people. Americans were united, and we all stood together as one, in PRAYER for our country. Terrorism fueled our patriotism, and in the wake of such a senseless tragedy I felt for the first time in my young life what it truly meant to be a PROUD AMERICAN.”
Kathy Lostroh had just begun teaching at Springlake-Earth.
“I was 21 and a brand new TTU graduate,” she explained. “I learned about it when a student came in and told me. It was sure interesting trying to navigate the tragedy as a young adult expected to comfort and explain it to my students, some who were just three to four years younger than me.”
Michelle Demel was waiting at a bus stop to go into work.
“I heard the students around me saying they had closed the borders, which I thought was odd,” she said. “I walked into my office and everyone was in the back student meeting area where we had a TV. I just remember being horrified, standing next to a professor of mine and gasping at the awful things I was seeing. It makes my gut hurt even now.”
Dustin Dinges said that he was in Mr. Ingram’s shop class.
“He came into the shop and told us all to come watch,” he said. “As I sat down the second plane hit. The rest of the day we did nothing but watch the news and coverage of it in almost every class. That was my senior year of high school at Littlefield High.”
Mark Samaron said that he was in his car headed to college at South Plains College in Levelland.
“I was listening to a morning show live when they started talking about the first trade center and how they thought it was a horrible accident,” he explained. “By the time I got to college people were realizing it was an attack. I got to my class and all the guys were listening to it on the radio and started talking about joining the military. A few of them did sign up for the military after that day.”
Angela Sawyer said she was just about to get out of bed when everything started happening.
“My son was two years old and usually woke up around this time,” she said. “My husband came into the room and said, ‘you won’t believe what just happened. A plane crashed into one of the towers at the World Trade Center! So weird, you gotta come see this. I don’t think it was an accident’! I walked into the living room and was watching in wonder. Then here comes another plane flying around and I said, ‘What are they doing?...looking at what’s going on...don’t tell me it’s going to crash, oh no.’ And it flew into the second building!”
She added, “I couldn’t believe what I had just seen. We looked at each other and said ‘That was no accident, we’re at war. They finally got the Trade Center, been trying for years and failed. But they did it today, with airplanes’! We watched as people were jumping from the buildings trying to escape the horror! We had been wanting to add to our little family and I seriously had anxiety about what kind of society/world we’d be bringing our children up in. It was a sickening feeling.”
Bobby Markham said, “I was on a Plane headed from Minneapolis to Dallas, got to DFW and all these people were gathered around a TV. The first plane had hit and then they shut DFW down.”
Candice Pearson said she was getting ready for school.
“My dad was watching the news like he did every morning, and I just happened to actually pay attention to the news that morning,” she stated. “I ended up watching the second plane hit the towers. Then while I was in school I heard that the Pentagon was also hit. I was 13 years old.”
Angie Garcia stated that her and her husband were at the VA clinic in Lubbock Texas.
“He had gone to the back to wait for his doctor and they had a TV back there,” she said. “He came out and told me what happened at the towers. It was such a heartbreaking day.”
Julie Montano was in seventh grade at Randolph Brooks Air Force Base in San Antonio.
“The teacher turned off the TV and wouldn’t tell us anything,” she said. “We attended school on base, and since then base was on a lock down the buses had to take a different route home, creating chaos.”
Kayla Pickard said that she was in her seventh grade, second period math class when they told them to turn on the news.
“The second plane hit and every class after that we watched the news it was so heartbreaking to watch,” she explained. “I remember just praying to myself throughout the day for them and the families that was affected.”
Mark Lopez said that he was in the eight grade when the attacks happened.
“We were in athletics when we heard something about an attack. We were getting dressed and ran to second period,” he said. “All TV’s were on in the school and they were all focused on the buildings from a helicopter. The first building had already been hit. We were all trying to figure out what was happening because we didn’t quite understand.” H e added, “After about 37 minutes we witnessed the second plane crash into the tower.. at that point our lives were changed forever. Prayers too all involved and families who lost a loved one.”
Brandy Pollard recalled that day, saying, “I had gotten my son who was in the fourth grade and my daughter who was in preschool ready for school so I had not turned on the TV yet. When we got back from dropping them off my mother and I had seen what had happened on the news and we were worried about my sister and brother in law who were flying home from Pennsylvania that morning.”
She added, “We couldn’t get a hold of them because all of the circuits were busy and calls weren’t working and I remember just praying a lot and being in shock as we watched what was happening. We were so relieved when we finally heard from them and I remember crying for days after the attack.”
Sharrise Johnson said that she lived in Eagle River, Alaska, whenever the attacks took place. We were three hours behind New York time so it was early,” she said. “We saw the second tower hit and just felt sick. There is one road in and one road out to Anchorage. Elmendorf Air Force Base had major security going on, not knowing what had happened. Needless to say there was no work that day because the roads were blocked off. This was the first time Anchorage airport had ever closed.”
Patty Miller said that she was at home with the stomach bug when her neighbor came over saw my car at home and told me to turn on the news.
“I moved to the couch and watched in dis-belief that this was happening to our country,” she explained. “Wow look at the many sad things taking place today! Wake up America take back what we have fought for all these years FREEDOM”!
Janice Rice said, “I was in Littlefield about to leave my mother’s house and head to the hospital in Lubbock to sit with my dad when my brother called and told me to turn the TV on. After watching a few minutes I headed to hospital. My dad was a veteran of WWII and I remember him saying ‘This can’t be good’. He died a week later.”
Margie Campbell recalls getting ready to go to work when she turned on the TV to get the weather.
“Instead I got video of the first plane hitting the towers, then saw the second plane getting ready to hit the second tower,” she said. “I cried all the way to work. I was going to go on vacation to Missouri in two days, I still took my vacation, but Lon and I just drove all over. The comradery and signs of support for our country was wonderful. We knew life would never be the same.”
Cassie Royston said that she was in home economics class at Amherst High School. “We were all gathered in the
“We were all gathered in the science room to watch the sad happenings on TV,” she said. “It was sad for students and teachers there that day lots of long face and tears.”
Shonda Castillo said that she was working in Levelland at a specialty place for restroom contracts on the day of the attacks. “I remember walking into the bosses office to pin up a new location we got. His TV was on showing the events unfolding,” she said. “The crazy thing is that I was baptized the past Sunday. I remember watching as the second plane hit and I realized just how serious it was. There was a heaviness all around.”
She added, “I remember the strangest feeling of not seeing a single plane in the air. It was like the country was numb. Even way down south in our little Texas town our emotions were strong. All can say is that I felt powerless and angry but a strong sense of pride that our great nation would rise again in the mist of all the turmoil. I was 22 years old.”
Bridgett Patterson said that she was cleaning a house in Carrollton, Texas.
“This place was a direct path on airplane to DFW and the only sounds I heard that day were birds chirping,” she said. “It was a very eerie feeling.”
Shanna Miles said she was living in Maryland at the time of the attacks.
“My friend’s husband worked at the Pentagon,” she stated. “I stayed with her until 2 p.m. ish and when we saw him walk up the sidewalk, he had finally found a ride home (he rode the train into DC). He couldn’t call because all the circuits were busy so we hadn’t heard from him.” She added, “Another friend would have had the office in the pentagon that got hit if he had gotten the promotion he wanted. The lady that got it was killed.” Jenny Cristan said that she was
Jenny Cristan said that she was in Ponder, Texas, cleaning a house with the radio on blast.
“They stopped playing music and it was on the radio turned on the news and that is when the second plane hit,” she recalled. “Sad day, awful.”
Kathy Mills said, “As the song goes, I was on a playground with my P.E. kids. When we went in one of the other teachers told me what had happened,” she said. “It was so hard to believe that something this tragic took place. Had high school kids next and knew I needed to discuss the event with them; it was not easy.”
Stephanie Chester said that she was at work at Littlefield Butane when David Barrera with TXDOT came in and told her what was going on.
“We flipped on a radio. At lunch my mom, Kay Campbell and I ate at my house watching it all unfold via TV,” she said. “It was a moment I’ll never forget.”
Regina Boleyn said she was driving on Hwy. 385 to take her daughter to school in Levelland and then head to work at KLVT.
“We were listening to the radio and in the middle of a sentence the DJ stops and you can hear her say ‘Oh my god’,” she said. “I turned the radio up more and the silence was deafening. They finally said that the first tower had been hit by a plane. That we were under attack. I drove a lot faster than I should of to get to KLVT and went through the doors screaming for our news guy Jody.”
She added, “I grabbed the phone and called our owner Paul and he went to see what was going on. We got online and watched second tower get hit. Jody Rose and I reported on it most of the day. At times it was really hard to talk past the lump in our throats. We knew we were under attack but still couldn’t come to grips with it.”